OpenProject vs Phabricator
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
OpenProject
Open-source project management and collaboration
VS
Phabricator
Suite of web apps to build software faster
| Feature | OpenProject | Phabricator |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Developer Tools & Git |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,794 | ★ 12,299 |
| First released | 2012 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Jira, Asana | GitHub, Jira |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenProject if…
- Very feature-complete
- Good for classic project management
- Strong permissions
Choose Phabricator if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Mature project with 12.3k GitHub stars
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenProject or Phabricator better?
Neither is universally better. OpenProject has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are OpenProject and Phabricator free and open-source?
Yes. OpenProject is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Phabricator under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenProject and Phabricator with Docker?
OpenProject: yes. Phabricator: check the project docs for container support.